Bumping Buggies
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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A Bump 'n' Jump clone, the object of this game is drive your car as fast as possible through the four seasons of the year, scoring points as your travel. While driving, your score slowly increases by 10, but more points are awarded by forcing other cars to crash by pushing them to the side of the road. Once you get over 100mph, you can jump over water and onto cars, also destroying them. At the end of each season, you are presented with the results that displays the number of cars that you have destroyed, and are awarded bonus points for each car.

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Review

This is one of those unofficial coin-op conversions that were common on the home computer scene before the majors wised up and started licensing them (under duress from coin-op lawyers no doubt), who then proceeding to churn out a worse conversion as they had no money left for development... I got Bumping Buggies before seeing first seeing Burnin' Rubber, its arcade counterpart, at Heathrow Airport, both were as good as each other in my opinion. There is no story to divulge here, you're not in a Death Race 2000 type scenario or anything, the instructions are bare to say the least, which might go some way to explain why this game was so overlooked. I don't know what motivated me to get it, but it's lucky for me that I did. 

Anyway, as per the instructions; the object of the game is to drive your car as far as possible through the seasons of the year, scoring points as you travel. You have five lives to travel along twenty different tracks through four seasons, you must stay on the track and avoid the water. Sounds great so far, right? Sure. If you ever find yourself moaning at dodgy plots, be thankful that there is one and the 'scenario' isn't being written by a Microsoft tech engineer. The reality is that this game (if you've no knowledge of the arcade game it's based on) is a mix of Spy Hunter and Up'n'Down, minus baddies & flags. Your Buggy, viewed from the top-down, in addition to being able to accelerate, deaccelerate and steer left & right, can jump if you're going more than 100mph (!). You can also bump into other cars like you can in Spy Hunter and force them off the road to their doom without having to worry about bursting your tyres, but you have to be careful, as you can get entangled in a car you are bumping and join it as it becomes roadside decoration. You can also jump onto cars to destroy them like in Up'n'Down. It's not all mayhem and destruction though as you will get a bonus for not destroying any cars which can be worth more overall than what you would get if you did. Later on in the levels there are bridges and gaps in the road that you have to jump over as well as worrying about the other cars, some of them requiring some precise timing and approach speed as you get further into the game. 

I actually prefer this game to Spy Hunter, as good as that is, because in that game there are a lot of things that break up the flow, Bumping Buggies is all about racing at top speed and only slowing down if you have to, so it's more like Up'n'Down on speed, which isn't a bad thing. The graphics while not being excellent in any way are good enough, everything runs smoothly and the controls are well suited. There is a good feeling of speed in the game and the other cars do respond to your presence in a manner that keeps you on your toes. I found it addictive and it certainly has that 'one more go' quality that keeps you wanting to play on and get further. It's certainly worth a download if you're into that sort of thing, but I will go that one step further and recommend that you seek it out in the real world if you're 'into' that as well. I bought this game for something like £2.99 (that might have been the motivation..) in '85, with some left over pocket money, and I certainly got my money's worth. I should have gone back and given them an extra fiver. 

Best Moment: Clearing those three stage bridges 
Random nostalgic memory: Playing this listening to 'Showdown' by the Furious Five and the Sugarhill Gang 
Got to love: Written in machine code touted as a feature


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